Means for automatically opening the doors of public buildings.



'T. A. STEVENSON &' 1. E. MORGAN. MEANS FORLAUTOMATICALLY OPENING THEDOORS OI PUBLIU BUILDINGS.

' APPLIOATION FILED A1 3; 14, 1908. 91 1, 175. Patented Feb. 2, 1909.

WITNESSES: INVENTORS g ZI/Z S zigw/mizjmfwym ATTORNEY.

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THEODORE A. STEVENSON, or LANSING,

KANSAS, AND ISAAC E. MORGAN, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

MEANS FQR AUTOMATICALLY OPENING THE-DOORS OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 2, 1909.

Application filed April 14, 1908. Serial No. 426,933.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, THEODORE A. STE- VENSON and ISAAC E.MORGAN,citizens of the United States, and residents ofLansing and Kansas City,in the counties of Leavenworth and Jackson and States of Kansas andMissouri, respectively, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Means for Automatically Opening the Doors of PublicBuildings, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to means for automatically unlocking and openingthe doors of school buildings, theaters, churches, and all otherbuildings wherein large numbers of people congregate; and our object isto provide means for preventing the congregation from becoming entrappedby locked doors in case of fire. 7

Doors equi ped with the invention may be locked wit perfect safety whilethe congregation occupies the building, and attendants need not beposted at said doors to open the same in case of fire, as this operationis automatically erformed when the doors are approached y thecongregation.

In order that the invention may be fully understood, reference will nowbe made to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure l is. a vertical section on line I--I of Fig. 2, of a doorequipped with our in' vention. Fig. 2 represents an elevation of theinner side of a door provided with our invention. Fig. 3 is an enlargedbroken section showing a portion of aplatform employed in carrying outthe invention. Fig. 4 is a broken horizontal section on line IV IV ofFig. 2.

1 designates a door-casing; 2 designates a door secured to the casing byhinges 3 so that it may be opened outward as indicated by arrow 0., Fig.4; 4 designates a floor," and 5 designates the threshold of the 7 door.

Door 2 is provided at its inner side with a plurality of hooks orkeepers 6 having eveled front sides 7. j

8 designates a latch-bar provided witha handle 9 and terminals 10 whichlatter are adapted to engage the keepers 6 and lock the door in a closedposition. Terminals 10 have beveled rear sides 11 so they may beautomatically engaged by the keepers 6 when it is desired to close thedoor from the outside. For instance, when the door is pushed to a closedposition the beveled ends 7 of the keepers will'engage the beveled ends11 of the terminals, and push the latch-bar down until the keepers passover the terminals 10,to the position shown in Fig. 1. When this occursthe latch-bar is immediately pushed upward by an expansionspring 12hearing at its lower end against a bracket 13, projecting from theadjacent side of the door-casing, and bearing at its upper endagainst acollar 14 secured to the latch-bar. One side of spring 1 2 extends intoa recess 12 in the adjacent side of the casing, this arrangementpermitting the latch-bar to be placed close to the casing so that itwill not project very far into the doorway and thus e in the way ofpersons passing in and out.

The latch-bar is movably mounted in a plurality of guides 15 secured tothe adjacent side of the door-casing, and one of which acts as a stopfor collar 14 to abut against for thepurpose of preventing the latch-barfrom moving upward too high to be engaged and depressed by the keeperswhen the door is pushed to a closed position. The latchbar is preventedfrom turning in guides 15 and thus throwing the terminals 10 out of linewith keepers 6 by means of a bracket 16 which extends up through anopening 17 in handle 9 and is securedto the adjacent side of thedoor-casing, see Figs. 1 and 2.

18 designates a movable platform which is arranged a'slight distanceabove the floor and on a level with the threshold 5. The front edge 19of the platform is beveled to prevent persons from tripping over thesame, and in order to prevent them from catching their feet beneath theplatform We provide guard-strips 20 which are secured to the floor atthe front and sides of the platform.

21 designates a lurality of bolts provided with disk-like hea s 22 whichare secured to the upper. portion of the platform. Said bolts extenddownward through openings in a plurality of disks 23 secured to theunderside of the floor for the pur ose of su orting expansionsprings 24em racing t e holtsand abutting at their ends against disks 22 23 forthe purpose of pushing the platform upward after it has been depressed.

The upward movement of the platform is limite by retaining-nuts 25engaging the lower threaded ends of the bolts.

26 designates a rod secured at its upper end to'handIeQ and extendinglooselythrough an opening in the platform, so that handle 9 may bedepressed to disengage the latch-bar from the keepers without depressingthe platform. In order, however, that the platterm, when depressed, maydisengage the latch-bar from the keepers, we provide the lower end ofrod 26 with a retaining-nut 27 and a washer 28, which engage theunderside of the platform, hence when the latter is depressed it willalso draw the latch-bar down therewith so that the door may be opened.

From the above description it will be understood that the latch-bar maybe disengaged from the keepers by either depressing handle 9 with thehand or the platform 18 by stepping thereon. The latchbar may also bedisengaged from the keepers by a rod 8 extending upwardly therefrom andprovided with a foot-piece 8 This rod is desirable in school buildingsas it may be extended upward to the second story so that it can bedepressed to open the outside door on the first floor before the schoolchildren reach the same. When the latch-bar is disengaged from thekeepers, the door is swung open by an expansion-spring 29 abutting atits ends against sockets 30 31. Socket 31 is secured to the adajeentside of the door-casing and socket 30 is secured to the inner side ofthe door and provided with a segmental rod 32 which extends throughopenings in the socket 31 and in the door-easing, as shown by dottedlines in Fig. 4. Rod 32 is provided at its inner end with a knob 33adapted to contact with socket 31 and thus prevent the door fromswinging open far enough to pull the spring 29 from said socket.

While we have shown the preferred form of our invention, we, of course,reserve the right to make such changes in the construction and locationof parts as properly fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.

l l 1 l l l l l l l Having thus described our invention, what we claimis:

1. In combination, a door, a casing therefor, locking devices on saiddoor, locking devices on the casing adapted to engage those on the doorwhen the latter is closed, and a rod extending upward above the door andconnected to the locking devices on the easing for disengaging the samefrom the lockin devices on the door.

2. In combination, a door, a casing therefor, keepers on said doorprovided with. beveled front sides, a latch-bar on the easing providedwith terminals adapted to automatically ei'igago the keepers on thedoor, resilient 1 eans for throwing the lateh-har into engagement withthe keepers, a handle on the latch-bar for diseng: ring the same fromthe keepers.

in combination, a door, a easing therefor, locking-devices on said door,locking-devices on the easing adapted to engage those on the door whenthe latt r is closed, an operable platiorm, and means loosely connecth1g5 the locking-devices to said pla'l lorm so that said locking-devicesmay be disengaged -without operating the platform.

4%. in combination, a door, a casin therefor, locking-devices on saiddoor, loehing-d0 vices on the casing adapted to automatieally engagethose on the door when the latter is closed, an operable platform. meanslor restoring the same to its normal position. alter it has beendepressed, and means loosely connecting the locking-devices to theplatform so that said loekiig-devices may he disengaged withoutoperating the platlorm.

in testimony whereof we allix our signatures in the presence of twowitnesses.

i.llEODOl.tE A. STEVENSON. ISAAC E. MORGAN. ri itnesses F. G. Fisonnn,M. (10X.

